Homeboy Mammal

First glance on rounding the corner of a shady tree: I thought this was a hairy cat on the loose. I mean, a big, low-slung hairball, one of those Persians who’s been to Paris, if you know what I mean.Woodchuck. Whistlepig. Groundhog. Land beaver. Marmota monax. In Green-Wood.I’ve seen them there before, but this was my closest, most extended view. Note those rodent teeth: these animals are the largest members of the ground squirrel family in the East.It ambled about and nibbled on tender, presumably, grasses, and then hit the jackpot. Which it sat up to munch on.A crab apple.But left a little. (How many apples would a woodchuck chuck… oh, never mind.) The animal took another apple and ambled over to the shadow of a bush.Clearly a moraine woodchuck, not a drumlin one.